Prelude to Eternity
by creamofwheat2311
Summary: Many of the readers of my fic Halo: New Horizons have wondered why the Master Chief didn't make the initial jump with the rest of the characters. Here's why. This is the story of John-117 two years after defeating the Didact and the mission he was sent on. This story will run concurrent to Halo: New Horizons, and will end upon Chiefs entrance into that story. AU. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1: Back to Work

**Authors Note: Like the summary explains, this is the backstory to the Master Chief's entrance into my main fic, Halo: New Horizons. If you have not read that, I highly suggest you stop on by. **

**This by no means will take the place of New Horizons, I will still be updating that story as often as I can.**

**In regards to the recent plot developments in Spartan Ops, for the sake of this story this is all you need to know.**

**- While Halsey _was_ present on Requiem for some time, she didn't go all crazy with the Librarian and that whole business.**

**- Lasky, Infinity, Blue team, and the rest of the Spartans are currently on an exercise somewhere else.**

**I'd really appreciate it if you took the time to review and tell me what you think.**

**Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but all original content is mine.**

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**Chapter One: Back to Work**

**Cairo Station, Geosynchronous Orbit above Earth, February 18****th****, 2559**

"Doctor, I just want to know if she's going to be alright."

Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey quickly looked up from the work she was conducting in her laboratory.

"I've already told you, _I don't know_." she said, slightly annoyed. Remembering who she was talking to, Halsey apologized, letting out a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. I've been under quiet a lot of stress lately."

"It's okay ma'am, I understand." she heard.

"A recovery and reconstruction procedure of this scale, and with so little to go on, has never before been attempted. In my honest opinion, I am not sure if it is even possible."

Halsey looked at the man in his hard, dark blue eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in a few days, that much was evident by the red eyes and the slight bags under them.

"John, I know how much Cortana means to you, and while it may be a longshot, I'll do my best to bring her back."

John-117 nodded absentmindedly, looking at the table Halsey was working at. On it were thirty-seven, he had counted four times, pieces of metal, circuitry, and other assorted debris. However, this wasn't any ordinary debris. UNSC teams had spent the better parts of two years sifting through the wreckage of the Didact's ship _Mantle's Return _for anything of value, and when sensors had discovered a number of ghost traces consistent with a UNSC A.I., the search had kicked into overdrive.

Those thirty-seven fragments represented the last bits of Cortana left in existence, and Doctor Halsey was going to try to put them back together.

Halsey put a hand on John's arm, she might as well have been touching rock due to the Spartan-II's incredible physique.

"John, this is going to take several hours to complete. Go, get some sleep, I'll come get you when it's over."

Never taking his gaze off of the fragments, John nodded absentmindedly, then turned his massive frame towards the door and walked out into the lobby.

Seeing a chair against the wall, the Spartan collapsed into it, feeling it groan under his weight. Leaning his head back against the wall, he reminisced on the past two years since the Didact had been defeated. He had been granted a generous amount of shore leave, but after a couple of days wandering around aimlessly at military bases, he requested to be put back to active duty.

And so he was. The Master Chief was sent all over quelling insurrectionist movements, battling the Storm Covenant, and he even served a couple more tours on Requiem. Yet he went about all of these tasks with the monotonicity and mechanical-like precision of a robot. Even after he was re-united with Blue team, things just weren't the same. Although he felt more than comfortable fighting with his fellow Spartan-II's, there was always the feeling that there was something missing, like a squadmate was left behind. Despite being offered the chance to work with other AI, he flat-out refused to do so, always shifting the burden to another.

Even Kelly, who has been one of John's closest friends, had told him that he was becoming cold, detached, and she was right. He tried his best not to be, but he couldn't help it, he just didn't have the heart.

John remembered what Captain Keyes had said to him on the _Pillar of Autumn, "Get Cortana off this ship. Keep her safe from the enemy."_ It had been his responsibility, his _duty_, to protect Cortana from harm, and he had failed at that.

"_Soldiers aren't machines. We're just people."_ Chief thought back on the words Lasky had said to him after the Didact had been defeated. Lasky was wrong, at least about him. John was a soldier, and he would always be one. He would never be a regular person, never live a regular life. His life was on the battlefield, and would be until he was dead.

The Spartan took a deep breath through his nose and closed his eyes. It had already been two years, he could wait a few more hours...

* * *

"_Cortana? Cortana, do you read? Cortana, come in." John said into the comm._

_John turned around and saw Cortana striding towards him. Her body was made out of hard light, and she was as tall as a real human being. They walk towards each other. _

"_How...?" he asked, dumbfounded._

"_Oh, _I'm_ the strangest thing you've seen all day?" said Cortana, smirking._

"_But if we're here-"_

"_It worked. You did it. Just like you always do." _

_Cortana smiled, and John looked around bubble curiously. _

"_So how do we get out of here?" he asked._

_Cortana looked down a little gravely._

"_I'm not coming with you this time. _

_John furrowed his brow in confusion. "...What?"_

"_Most of me is down there. I only held enough to get you off the ship." she said._

"_No. That's not-!We go together."_

"_It's already done."_

"_I _am not_ leaving you here."_

"_John..." Cortana walked up to him and touched his breastplate, the spot glowing in response._

"_I've waited so long to do that." she said, sighing. _

_John looked away. "It was my job to take care of you."_

"_We were supposed to take care of each other. And we did." she said._

_John looked up at her, and Cortana sadly smiled. _

"_Cortana- please..." John begged._

_She began to back away, out of the bubble._

"_Wait," he pleaded_

"_Wake up John." she said._

"_Wake up."_

"John! Wake up!"

The Master Chief's eyes snapped open and he flew out of his chair, instinctively bringing his sidearm up and scanning for targets.

It wasn't until he saw a very startled looking Doctor Halsey quickly backing away when he realized he was still on Cairo Station and was not in any immediate danger.

"Doctor Halsey, I'm sorry. I did not mean to scare you." said the Chief.

"No, it's quite alright," Halsey replied. She started to smile, and said, "I believe I have something you'll want to see."

She then reached into a pocket in her labcoat, and withdrew a crystalline datachip, the semi-transparent inner circle glowing a faint blue.

John looked at the chip, then back to Halsey, who now had a full-blown grin on her face, small crinkles showing at the side of her mouth.

"It worked John, we did it. The recovery was a success."

As if on que, a holographic avatar of a blue-tinted woman jumped out of the chip, using it as a base to 'stand' on. She smiled and waved a code-lined hand at the Spartan.

"Hi John."

The Chief was at a loss for words.

"Cortana." he said after a few seconds of silence.

Suddenly, Chief could hear a door opening, and he turned his head to the noise.

Decades of military instinct automatically kicked in, and John snapped to attention, whipping off a perfect salute.

"Admiral Hood, sir!" he bellowed.

Dressed in his white Admirals uniform, Hood kept walking until he was standing in front of the Chief, and he returned his salute.

"At ease soldier," he said. Looking towards Halsey he continued, "Doctor Halsey, and.. Cortana? It's good to see you back. I apologize if I'm interrupting, but something's come up."

"What is it sir?" asked John.

"A new mission soldier. If you accept, you're to depart immediately. Details will be given en route." Hood explained.

John turned to look at Cortana.

"Ready to get back to work?"

Cortana just smiled at him again. "I thought you'd never ask."


	2. Chapter 2: Noble

**Authors Note: So here's Chapter 2, continuing the story of Master Chief, in addition to introducing some familiar characters**

**In regards to the now completed Season One of Spartan Ops (Which was awesome!), here's all you need to know in regards to this story**

**- Pretend Episodes 5-10 never happened. (Spoiler Warning) Halsey never met the Librarian, she never got the Janus Key, and certainly didn't get her arm cut off. **

**- Crimson and Majestic served on Requiem, but they weren't a part of the whole Librarian business, because it never happened.**

**Also, since this is an Alternate Universe story, I've taken some liberties that don't follow the established canon.**

**Please review if you have the time, I really appreciate feedback of any kind. **

**But enough of that, enjoy the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but all original content is mine. **

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**Chapter Two: Noble**

**Cairo Station, Geosynchronous Orbit above Earth, February 18****th****, 2559**

The lift came to a stop, and John-117 stepped out the doors into the armory.

The armory attendant, a Master Gunnery Sergeant, looked up from cleaning his shotgun and said, "Ah Master Chief! Right this way!"

"Cortana, do you know what this is about?" asked John, as he followed the Sergeant through the hallways.

"Chief, I'm a fourth-generation Smart A.I. That can perform billions of processes a second. Of course I do, but Doctor Halsey asked me to keep it a secret." she said in a playful tone.

_A secret_, thought John, his curiosity peaked. Lord Hood had ordered him to pick up something from the armory before he left for his new mission, but hadn't told him what it was. _A new weapon maybe?_

The Sergeant stopped at a nondescript looking door and punched in a series of numbers into a keypad.

While he was doing so he said, "You're going to have fun with this one Chief."

The door slid open and John walked inside a medium-sized room that was dark at the back. There were a number of technicians milling about, and from a group he saw Doctor Halsey start to walk towards him.

"Doctor Halsey," said the Spartan, "What is all this about?"

Halsey grinned and gestured towards the back of the room, saying, "Maybe you should just see for yourself."

The lights turned on, and John saw a suit of MJOLNIR armor on a metal support rack. It looked almost identical to his current suit, albeit a little less bulky. It was still its characteristic gun-metal green, but its edges were a little more rounded than before, and it was devoid of any burns, scratches, or scars.

"MJOLNIR?" asked the Chief.

"No, John, not just MJOLNIR." replied Halsey. "This, this is the last generation of the MJOLNIR line.. You're looking at the MJOLNIR Mk. VII."

_Mk. VII?_ After returning from Requiem, John's old Mk. VI had been repaired and upgraded up to speed with the GEN2 armor issued to the Spartan-IV's. He was aware that Naomi-010 possessed a suit, but didn't know there were any more being produced.

A pair of techs approached him carrying a black body suit, and Chief began to get undressed.

"What's different about it?" asked John, straightforward and to the point.

"Where to even begin..." muttered Halsey. "For starters, we've improved the overall protection of the armor considerably. More layers of condensed Titanium-A3, a more concentrated refractive coating, a denser hydrostatic gel layer, et cetera, et cetera."

John finished putting on the bodysuit, and walked over to the gyroscopic machine that would attach the rest of the armor to his body.

Halsey continued, "But now onto the real improvements. Forerunner technology we've been able to exploit from Trevelyan and Requiem have revolutionized what we could do with the suit."

The Chief felt the familiar weight of the armor as it was assembled around him and once every piece was in place, his helmet slowly slid over his head. The suits pressure seal activated with a hiss, and the suit powered on. The HUD flickered to life, and one thing John immediately noticed is that he had _two_ shield bars instead of one.

Anticipating his question Halsey said, "Due to the two-fold increase in power granted by our fusion-plasma hybrid reactor, you now have two separate shields at your disposal. The first, more powerful one is a standard all-body shield, much like the kinds on the Mk. V and VI. However, the second, less powerful shield is able to contort to a shape of your choosing, such as airfoils, solid panels, the like. You can also have it overlap with your primary shield, giving you an increase in all around protection."

John was pleased upon hearing that. The tactical implications of having two shields was certainly something he could get used to. He cautiously stepped off of the assembly machine and raised his arms experimentally. Much to his surprise, he found that his movements seemed faster and more fluid than before.

"You'll have to thank the Huragok for that," said Halsey, "We let one of them tinker with the liquid crystalline layer, and what do you know, in five minutes it had improved the output by almost ten percent."

Halsey approached him with a datachip, which Chief gently took into his gloved fingers. He reached for the docking port of his neural lace in the back of his helmet and inserted the blue-tinted chip. For the briefest of moments John felt the icy-cold sensation seemingly pouring into his skull, then it quickly subsided.

Broadcasting through his external speakers, the familiar voice of Cortana commented, "Roomy."

"Indeed, there's now enough space in the suit for two AI's if one wanted, but I would suggest against it." said Halsey.

Switching to internal speakers, Chief heard Cortana jokingly say, "Yeah, and I've been known to be viciously territorial."

John smirked, and continued to listen to Halsey.

"We've also added Active AI transfer protocols, meaning that an AI such as Cortana can interface directly with terminals and such without having to leave your suit." said the Doctor. "In theory, you can also now perform a slipspace exit without the use of a re-entry vehicle, as well as more safely perform orbital insertions with the help of specialized equipment. Lastly, nanobots embedded in the armor will passively repair and upgrade it when its not in use."

It was then when Lord Hood's came over the rooms intercom. "Doctor Halsey, I assume that the Master Chief is now familiar with his new armor system?"

"Yes, but I still wish we had time to run more tests." answered.

"Well, time is something that we don't have Doctor. You, Master Chief, and Cortana are to report to the USNC Prowler _Dusk_ in docking bay B-2 immediately. Hood out."

"Doctor Halsey, you're coming with us?" asked John, perplexed.

"It appears so. Come, lets not keep the _Dusk_ waiting." she said, beginning to walk out the armory door.

John nodded and followed her, using the walk to get accustomed to the increase in dexterity his new suit allowed him. After a few minutes, they reached the docking bay and crossed through the airlock leading into the Prowler.

"Cortana, do we have any orders yet?" asked John to Cortana.

"Nothing but to report to the briefing room." she said. "Oh wait, you'll like this. There's another team of Spartan's on board as well."

"Fours?" questioned John.

"No," she replied, "Threes."

_Threes?_ John had never met a Spartan-III, let alone worked with any. He was aware, however, of the horrible circumstances surrounding the Spartan-III program. Orphans undergoing brutal training, given illegal and potentially fatal augmentations, issued sub par armor and weapons, and sent to die en mass on suicide missions that had no real affect on the outcome of the war. It made his blood boil that ONI could so casually do such a thing. They might not have been Spartan-II's, but they were Spartans nonetheless, and John couldn't help but feel a certain camaraderie with with them.

The worst part was, knowing Halsey would eventually find out about the Threes, ONI threatened to release the less known information about the Spartan-II program: that Halsey had kidnapped hundreds of children against their will and trained them to become deadly efficient killing machines. However, Halsey had an ace up her sleeve. She had hacked the ONI database, accessed the top secret information about Ackerson's program, and made several copies, spreading them out all over the electronic world. As a result, Halsey and ONI were in a sort of Mexican standoff, each threatening to release information that would most likely destroy the other.

They reached the briefing room and stepped through the open door. John saw six Spartans clad in various versions of the new MJOLNIR GEN2. His HUD tagged each of them along with their rank.

Addressing the highest rank of the group, John snapped to attention and whipped of a perfect salute.

"Commander sir! Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 reporting as ordered!" he shouted.

"At ease." said the man, returning his salute and offering his armored hand, which John promptly shook.

"It's good to have you aboard Chief," he continued. "My name's Carter, allow me to introduce you to Noble team."


	3. Chapter 3: Threnody

**Authors Note: So here it is, the next installment in the story of Master Chief, Cortana, and now, Noble team.**

**Enjoy**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but all original content is mine.**

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**Chapter Three: Threnody**

**Briefing Room, UNSC Prowler **_**Dusk**_**, Earth Space, February 18****th****, 2559**

"Jorge? You're alive?" exclaimed John incredulously.

He heard the big man chuckle as he reached up to ease his helmet off. John immediately recognized the pronounced jawline and the kind, caring eyes that bellied what the man must have been through over the years.

"Aye. Despite the best efforts of the Covenant, might I add." Jorge gave him the two-finger smile across his face, even though he was helmet-less. "It's good to see you again John. I figure if anybody could have made it through the war, it would have been you."

John swiped his fingers across his faceplate in return. "I knew you had gotten re-assigned before Reach, but I was never told where to."

Jorge gestured towards the rest of Noble. "I was re-assigned to them as part of Noble Team. We fought all over Reach, damned lot of good it did. We actually covered the _Pillar of Autumn's _escape off-planet."

John was stupefied. All this time, there had been another Spartan team he hadn't even known about. Not only that, but were it not for these individuals, he might have not even made it off of Reach himself.

"Cortana, how come I was never told about Noble?" asked John.

Doctor Halsey interceded on that one. "That would be because of me. Once Cortana was safely aboard the _Autumn_, and automated subroutine deleted all knowledge that she had had of Noble. It was for your own safety John. We couldn't have you dwelling on the fate of Noble, something that was out of your control, especially considering the importance of your mission."

The Chief nodded in understanding. "If I remember, the _Autumn_ was among the last space-worthy vessels to escape the planet. How did you get off Reach?"

"Your standing on her right now." said Carter, pointing down towards the deck.

"Once the _Autumn_ had entered slipspace, we were contacted by Captain Lash, who had been observing the whole thing." Carter explained. "The Covenant ships that followed the _Autumn _created a gap in the blockade, and Lash told us that if we could get to him, he would extract us."

"So we 'acquired' a Phantom dropship, booked it to the _Dusk_, and got the hell out of there. We returned to Earth, and when the Covenant inevitably arrived, we were deployed to Russia in defense of the city of Moscow. We even served a tour on Requiem, but it must have been at a time when you were on leave. And here we are now." he finished.

The deck shuddered under John's feet, and he felt the familiar sensation in his stomach that signified a transition to slipspace.

The intercomm buzzed, and they all tilted their heads to listen.

"Attention, this is Captain Lash speaking. We are underway to our objective, estimated time to arrival is twenty days. All non-essential personnel are to report to their cryo-chambers as soon as possible. That means you Spartan's."

The intercomm crackled off after that.

"Well, you heard the Captain. Noble, make your way to the freezers when you have the chance. Chief? You're welcome to join us." said Carter.

John really didn't have anything better to do, so he nodded and followed Noble down the corridor to the cryo-bay. Doctor Halsey went a different route, choosing to head towards the bridge John guessed.

"Cortana?" he asked, using his internal speakers.

"Don't worry about me Chief, I've already transferred myself into the _Dusk_'s systems. I've gotta say, but there's actually more space in your armor than on this Prowler. Anyway, have a nice nap."

John smiled at the AI's lighthearted words and it was then when he found himself in the cryo-bay, a large rectangular room lined with angled pods. Noble was in the process of removing their armor, stacking it in neat piles near their pods.

Chief just picked an open pod and hopped in, armor and all. He knew that one wasn't supposed to be frozen with any sort of clothes or armor on, but he didn't care. He could take the mild freezer-burn, he'd had worse.

Also, it was imperative to him that he be ready to go at a moments notice in case of an emergency. Memories of the _Pillar of Autumn_ and how he was immediately thrust into combat once they discovered Installation 04 came to mind.

The Spartan-II disabled his suits climate control, and almost immediately he could feel the cold creeping through his body. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep...

* * *

John had no dreams. He opened his eyes just as the cryo-pods lid opened outwards with a hiss, and he hopped out onto the deck of the bay. Noble was just waking up as well, and they were in the process of putting on their bodysuits and armor.

Cortana's holographic avatar appeared in front of him. She had her hands on her hips, mouth upturned in a smug smile.

"Sleep well?" she said playfully.

Chief decided to indulge her. "No thanks to your driving."

"So you did miss me." responded Cortana, switching now to a full-blown grin. She gestured towards him and Noble team. "Captain Lash has requested you to report to the bridge as soon as your armored, we've arrived at our destination."

John nodded and looked to Carter, who had just finished strapping on the thigh pieces of his armor.

The Spartan Commander tilted his head towards the door as he reached for his chest piece. "Go on ahead Chief, we'll meet you there."

The Master Chief complied, and walked the short distance to the bridge of the Prowler. He entered the door and saw Captain Lash and Doctor Halsey looking out of the forward viewport.

Chief snapped to attention and saluted. "Captain Lash, Doctor Halsey, Spartan-117 reporting as ordered.

Lash turned around upon hearing John and returned his salute. Halsey kept staring out the viewport.

"At ease soldier. I believe there's something you should see." he said, gesturing towards the viewport.

John walked up to it and stood beside Doctor Halsey, looking outwards into space. He could see almost immediately what Halsey was fixated on, a large metal sphere a little smaller than Earth's moon, John would guess. A small blue star shone on the planet from the other side of the system, it's rays vibrantly reflecting off of the smooth metal of the sphere.

The Spartan's mind instantly made the connection.

"It looks like Requiem," said John, turning to look at Halsey, "That means-"

Halsey interrupted, looking back at the Chief. "You're correct John. It's another shield world."

John heard Noble team entering the bridge, only to be met with silence.

Halsey pointed towards the shield world. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we came here."

Captain Lash cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. He looked at John and Noble team. "Gear up Spartans, you and Doctor Halsey are going to the surface."

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**Hoped you all liked it, feel free to leave a review!**

**Also, for those who were wondering about the title, "Threnody" is a synonym to "Requiem" *hint hint***


	4. Chapter 4: Forerunner

**Authors Note: Okay, so here we go, Chapter Four. This one was fun to write, and I can only imagine the thoughts that will be going through your head once you finish reading. **

**Enjoy**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but all original content is mine. **

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**Chapter 4: Forerunner**

"Commander, we're about to enter the planet."

"Acknowledged Six, keep her steady." replied Carter.

Noble team, the Master Chief, and Doctor Halsey were all in the back of a Pelican dropship heading towards their newly discovered shield world, except for Noble Six, who was piloting.

Carter turned to address the other occupants in the dropship. "Alright you heard him, be prepared for anything once we make landfall."

Halsey was engrossed in a datapad filled with the various sensor readings and scans that the Prowler _Dusk_ had performed on the planet.

"Interesting..." she muttered. "This is definitely a shield world, but it doesn't resemble any design we've seen so far... Whether that means it has a unique purpose or not I can only guess."

She was right. Unlike Requiem, which had a few, very large entrances, this planet had hundreds of more common, yet smaller entrances.

In fact, even the largest entrance on this planet was smaller than their Prowler, so they would be traveling alone onto the surface in a Pelican.

"Whew, this is gonna be a tight squeeze." said Six over the intercomm.

The Chief felt their forward progress almost come to a halt as Six slowed down the Pelican and proceeded at a metaphorical crawl through the opening.

John felt a bang and was jolted in his seat, the safety harness straining against his armor for the briefest of seconds.

"Hehe... whoops." they heard Six say apologetically. After a couple of seconds, John could tell the dropship was accelerating again.

This was confirmed by Six's announcement, "We're through the door and in the planet actual. Sensors are reading an oxygen based atmosphere, much like the one on Requiem. I'm opening the bay doors now. You'll definitely want to take a look."

With a mechanical whir the bay doors started to open outward, and John stood up to get a better view, along with everyone else.

What they saw baffled all of them. The 'ground' looked to be entirely metallic and smooth. There were no landmarks, no points of references, no remarkable features, just flat, silver-tinted metal. John could actually see the soft, downwards curvature taking place at the horizon, much like a Halo ring, but reversed. The Chief could see a large, bright ball in the 'sky', probably acting as some sort of artificial lighting.

"A metal sphere...within a metal sphere. Ladies and gentlemen, the Forerunners." said Jun cynically, gesturing out the open bay door.

Doctor Halsey looked at the Spartan with a raised eyebrow. "It would be wise not to insult those to whom we owe our existence."

John would bet his next meal that Jun rolled his eyes at that.

"Can it Three." ordered Carter. "Six, can you see anything of interest?"

"No sir, but I'll keep looking."

"Wait! Noble Six, stop the Pelican!" exclaimed Halsey.

Six slowed the ship until it was hovering in place, and Carter asked, "What is it Doctor?"

"I thought I saw something." she said.

A red box appeared in John's HUD, and Cortana spoke up, "There, zoom in on that sector."

John activated his visor's magnification, and suddenly, he saw it. It was a rectangular prism, about 15 meters tall, 30 meters long, and 20 meters wide. It looked to be made of the exact same metal as the ground beneath it, and from this distance John could see no evidence of any creases, lines, or a door for that matter.

"It looks like a structure." he said.

There were a few seconds of silence as the rest of Noble undoubtedly observed the structure through their own visors.

"Take us down lieutenant." said Carter to Six.

"Sir." she said as the Pelican did a 180 turn and accelerated towards the structure.

After about thirty seconds they arrived over the structure and Six flared the Pelican out for a perfect landing, the landing struts gently impacting the smooth metal surface.

"Lets move out people." said Carter, hopping out of the Pelican. "For the sake of simplicity when using call signs, Master Chief, you'll be designated as Noble Seven, Doctor Halsey, Noble Eight."

Following Carter's lead, John stepped out of the Pelican onto the ground with the rest of Noble. His boots hit the hard metal with a clang, and other than its strange appearance, it felt just like the deck of a UNSC warship.

The Spartans fanned out into rough circular formation, each facing different directions, with Doctor Halsey in the center.

Halsey made a beeline right towards the raised structure about a hundred meters away, and Noble quickened their pace to accommodate.

"Cortana, do you have any idea what this structure could be?" asked John.

"Your guess is as good as mine," she replied, "I can't pick up anything to transfer to or extract data from. The only thing I _have _found out is the planets name. Threnody."

"Threnody?" asked the Chief "Isn't that-"

"Yes John, its a synonym."

Carter looked at Halsey, "A synonym for what?"

"Requiem."

They continued the walk in silence and upon reaching the structure the Spartans set up in a semi-circle around the 'front' face. Halsey walked up the smooth metal wall and examined it for a few seconds.

She reached out a long, graceful hand to the wall, hesitated a few inches away, then pressed it against the metal.

After a few seconds when nothing happened, Halsey withdrew her hand frowning. She reached into her labcoat and had her datapad halfway out of her pocket when she noticed something.

A vertical crease had appeared in the exact center of the wall, and suddenly, an opening appeared, about five meters wide.

"Did you know that would happen?" Jorge asked the Doctor.

"Not in the slightest." she answered, brows furrowed.

John activated his helmet lights, and two bright beams shone into the darkness just inside the opening. He saw a raised platform inside that had ankle-high barriers, and a clear, transparent center. His enhanced mind instantly recognized its purpose.

"It's a lift." he announced.

Carter moved from his position and had a look for himself. He looked at the Chief and asked, "So where does it lead?"

Halsey answered him, "Now that, Commander, is exactly what we are going to find out."

She stepped into the room and giving Carter a shrug, John followed in behind her. With a wave of the hand, Carter commanded the rest of the Spartans to do the same.

They all stepped onto the platform and Carter reminded, "Stay alert Noble, we don't know what kind of surprises could be waiting for us."

"Couldn't be any worse than the Covenant armada that showed up after Operation: UPPERCUT." remarked Kat.

"Amen to that." commented Emile with a chuckle.

So smooth that he almost didn't feel it, the lift engaged and began moving downwards. For a brief second John's minds was flooded with unpleasant memories from Installation-04 and an 'ammo cache.' He hoped that this expedition didn't turn out like that one did.

The lift came to a halt and Noble stepped off into a large, circular room, with raised ridges and walls dotting the floor. However, everyone's attention was on a single, dominating feature and the center of the room.

Said feature was a pulsating blue sphere encircling a floating cylindrical object.

Halsey gasped once she saw it. "Could it be?"

She rushed towards the sphere, and Noble actually had to _run_ to catch up to her.

_Still got some spirit in her_, noted John with a small smile.

Upon approaching the sphere, the smooth blue morphed into a more hexagonal pattern.

"It looks like a shield..." said Jorge softly.

"And you would be correct Jorge." said Halsey.

Carter turned towards the sphere. "If that's a shield, then what is it protecting?"

Halsey withdrew her datapad and started tapping away.

"If my reasoning is correct," she said, "access requires a more, _human_, touch."

With a final press, the shield noiselessly deactivated, leaving whips of blue energy in its wake. Suddenly, a bright beam of blue light burst from the bottom of the floor and though the floating metal cylinder the shield was protecting, reaching all the way up to the ceiling. The cylinder rotated, showing an entrance just inside the blue light.

John's attention was immediately wrenched from the spectacle when he saw a score of red on his motion detector.

"Commander!" shouted the Chief.

Back near the lift, John saw a small, black circle appear, hovering in the air. A brief instant later, John's suspicions were confirmed when a Promethean Knight materialized out of it. The same thing happened all around the chamber, with Knights effectively surrounding the humans.

Carter wasted no time, snapping his DMR up to his shoulder. "Prometheans! Noble, engage! Protect the Doctor!"

Chief leveled his Assault Rifle and emptied half a magazine into a nearby Knight, bringing its shields down, while Kat finished it off with a Magnum round to the head. Lead and hard light began flying throughout the room as the Spartans attacked the Knights.

Out of the corner of his eye, John saw Halsey turn around and run directly towards the beam of light in the center of the room.

The Chief called out to her, "Doctor Halsey!", but she had already entered the beam of light, all of a sudden disappeared with a flash.

* * *

Halsey blinked a few times to clear her eyes. She looked around, and saw that she was standing on some sort of energy, most likely made of hard light. She noticed that she couldn't see any walls of any sort.

_Where am I?_

Halsey felt a bright light being shone into her eyes, and she shielded her face with her arm. Much to her surprise, she could make out the faint silhouette of what looked like a person bathed in the white light, and it was coming... towards her?

The light disappeared, and Halsey struck speechless when she realized who she was looking at.

"Welcome." said the figure, arms held out.

Eyes wide open and mouth agape, Halsey struggled to stammer out some form of speech.

"You...you are Librarian!"

* * *

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	5. Chapter 5: The Key

**Authors Note: Hey look! A Prelude chapter! I know it's been a while, but I thought I'd just whip up a chapter for this story. After all, this story is going to majorly tie into New Horizon's in a pretty important way...**

**For those of you who were wondering why the chapters are shorter than the New Horizons one, it is because I have to sacrifice time away from that story for this one, and I feel like these chapters should be something I can get done in a day or two. Speaking of New Horizons, I'm about halfway done with the latest chapter. **

**Anyway, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but all original content is mine. **

* * *

**Chapter Five: The Key**

"You... you are Librarian! Wife of Didact!" Halsey stammered out in disbelief.

Halsey furrowed her eyebrows, remembering the situation that was taking place outside.

"I have Spartans outside being engaged by Promethean soldiers. Why are they here? Unless they would be guarding something valuable...?" Halsey wondered, still in blatant awe of the Forerunner before her.

"You would be correct. But what I have is not for them, It is for you. Catherine Halsey."

The Librarian held up her hands, revealing two halves of a small, thin device. One had a distinctive orange coloration to it, while the other was blue.

"This, is the Janus Key." said the Librarian. "It offers the real-time location of every piece of Forerunner technology in the galaxy.

Halsey gasped, "Every piece?"

The Librarian suddenly brought both of the pieces together. Vibrant blue holograms of star systems burst outwards from it, surrounding both women. Halsey examined them in fascination, mouth agape.

"We did not create so much without a means to catalog it all. This was meant for my husband to _help_ your people... when his meditation was complete."

The Librarian separated the two pieces, and the holograms disappeared suddenly. She then extended her hands outwards towards Hasley.

"Take this key to the Absolute Record. Use what you find to propel humankind."

Thousands of questions coursed through Halsey's mind. Is this the actual Librarian? Why sequester herself on a planet like this? What is this 'Absolute Record'? But most of all, why her?

"Why give this to me?" asked Halsey.

The Librarians tone grew urgent. "My time here is at an end. The key and what it details must _not_ be lost."

Hesitating at first, Halsey reached forwards and grasped the two pieces of the key. With a sudden flash of light, Halsey found herself suddenly propelled out of the forcefield back into the chambers. A cacophony of sound and sight assaulted her senses. The battle between Noble team and the Prometheans was in full force. The crack and whine of small arms fire echoed throughout the room, and the air was abound with the acrid smell of cordite. Through her earpiece Hasley could hear the quick, efficient communications of highly trained, lifelong soldiers.

"On the left, that Knight's shields are almost down."

"Take care of that Watcher before he starts resurrecting!"

"I'm reloading! Kat, cover my sector!"

"We could use that gun over here George!"

"New contact behind us! A friendly?"

"Doctor!"

Halsey snapped her head around to the call. It was the Master Chief, taking cover behind a small outcropping. He urgently motioned her to come to him and get out of the open.

Halsey took a step towards the Chief, but without warning she suddenly found herself on the ground with the wind knocked out of her. She looked up, and to her horror saw only the armored face of a Promethean Knight.

She was violently hauled to her feet and pressed against the cold metal body of the Knight, bright orange blade at her throat.

Halsey caught a glimpse of the Chief, Assault Rifle raised in her direction, trying to decide whether to engage or not.

"Doctor Halsey!" he yelled.

Haley knew what she had to do, there was absolutely no way that she could let the Prometheans have both halves of the Janus Key.

"John! John take the Key!" she cried out desperately, using her good arm to throw half of the Key to the Spartan.

The Chief expertly caught it, looking at the object quizzically for the briefest of seconds.

There was a loud _whooshing_ sound, the same associated with the Knight's tactical slipspace portals. Right before they were about to enter slipspace, Halsey thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye rushing towards her.

The armored bulk of Noble Six tackled the Knight and Halsey at the exact instant the Knight brought them all into slipspace.

For a millisecond Six felt and immense pressure and was blinded by sheer darkness. The next thing he knew he was lying on a gleaming metal floor. Rather, he was on top of the Promethean Knight, who was in turn on the floor.

The Knight delivered a vicious kick to Six's midsection, propelling him off of the Promethean and onto the ground a few meters away. The kick had not only knocked the wind out of him, but also completely drained his shields.

His attention was diverted by the sight of the Knight catapulting through the air right at him, orange blade held back for a finishing strike.

Six rolled out of the way at the last second, the Promethean's blade digging into the metal where he just was.

Coming up to a knee, Six unholstered his sidearm and emptied his entire magazine in about a second into the chest of the Knight, shattering its protective shield.

The Knight roared, opening up its faceplate to reveal its orange, skeleton-like face. It leveled its weapon at the Spartan, which he quickly found out was a Scattershot, deathly lethal at this range.

Six dropped like a pound of bricks to the ground, with the energy-bolt discharge of the Scattershot passing inches above his head.

The Spartan propelled himself forwards into the left knee-joint of the Knight, the powerful collision causing them both to stumble backwards.

The Knight swung his blade downwards, but Six ducked under it and sidestepped to his left.

Now was his chance to end this fight, and Six took it without hesitation. With his right hand Six grabbed just below the base of the Knight's blade, while with his left he channeled every ounce of strength he could summon into and open-handed punch at the elbow-joint of the Knight.

The joint, not designed to handle that much stress from that direction, shattered, resulting in the disconnection of the blade arm from the rest of the Knight's body.

Six spun around and used his momentum to bisect the Knight at its midsection. The Promethean halves collapsed to the floor, and just for good measure Six sank the blade right into the face of the now-dead Knight.

It was now when Six noticed Doctor Halsey, who was lying on the ground about ten meters away, clutching some object to her chest as if her life depended on it.

"Are you alright?" asked the Spartan, to which Hasley just nodded.

The teamwide comm channel came to life.

"Six? Can you hear me? Where are you?" came the voice of Commander Carter.

Six quickly looked around for the first time, and much to his relief, he saw the entrance to the chamber they had found not a hundred meters away.

"I am just outside the chamber entrance. I have the Doctor, she is safe." reported Six.

"Alright. We've defeated the Prometheans down here, we're headed up to you. Make sure -"

Carter's sentence was cut off by a deep rumble that shook Six down to the bone.

"What was that?" apprehensively asked Carter.

Six looked to Halsey, whose eyes had gotten as wide as dinner plates.

"The Librarian... she had said she didn't have much time left..." She got up off the ground and rushed towards Six. "We have to go! Right now! The Key must not be lost!"

Six was confused. Librarian? Key? But he did know that if the Doctor thought they needed to evacuate, he should probably listen.

"Carter, we have to exfil immediately. Halsey thinks something is happening to the planet." said Six.

There was another rumble, this one actually causing Six to stumble a bit, and Halsey to grab onto his arm for support.

"Affirmative. Fire up the Pelican, we'll be out as soon as we can." ordered Carter.

Six turned to Halsey. "It will be faster if I carry you ma'am."

The Doctor just nodded, and Six picked her up, holding the frail woman in his arms. He noticed that Halsey was still holding some object to her chest in a death grip.

The Pelican was three hundred meters away from the main entrance, Six made it there in under twenty seconds. He hopped into the open bay and set Halsey down, the Doctor quickly strapping herself into one of the crash chairs.

Six maneuvered into the cockpit and sat down, then began pressing buttons and flipping switches to turn the Pelican on. The dropship shook violently as the ground beneath it rumbled, and Six looked anxiously towards the control panel. The maneuvering thrusters came online with their characteristic whine, and the dropship was soon airborne.

The Spartan Lieutenant spun the dropship around to face the entrance structure they had come upon and sped towards it.

In the distance he saw something that deeply troubled him, a very large piece of metal falling through the sky. It impacted the ground with a colossal crash, the falling piece exploding in a shower of gleaming sparks and shrapnel.

Six saw the 'door' of the structure they came through begin to open, and he maneuvered the Pelican so that the open troop bay was facing the opening.

Out of the darkness emerged the six other members of Noble team. Carter radioed over the channel, "Get on the Pelican, go go go!"

Six felt the distinctive weight of each Spartan jumping into the bay affect the Pelican's hover, and adjusted to compensate.

"We're all aboard, get us out of here Six!" yelled Carter.

"Aye sir!" The Spartan pilot hit the control to close the bay door, then put the throttles to full power. The Pelican rocketed away, quickly reaching Mach speeds.

The ground below them seemed to be constantly shaking now, and the pieces of debris falling started to increase at an alarming rate.

Six caught a flash of light at his three o' clock, and instinctively banked the Pelican hard to the left. A piece of metal the size of a Scorpion tank plummeted past them, missing the dropship by mere meters.

The Spartan began to hear the dings and clanks as smaller pieces of debris began to pepper the Pelican, causing him to make micro-adjustments in order to stay on course.

The opening they had flown through to access the inside of the sphere was only a few seconds away, and Six felt a small bead of sweat roll down the side of his face. The opening had been barely large enough to fit the Pelican through the first time, and then they had been going at a snail's pace. Now, at full afterburner, there was no room for error. If Six was even a few inches off either way, they were all dead.

Six held his breath as the gap rushed up to meet them, then...

They were through, into the relative safety of the vacuum of space.

The distinct southern voice of Captain Lash came through the comm, "Noble team, we've got you back on sensors, what's going on? We're getting some ridiculously high energy readings from the planet."

"We don't know, but I'd advise against sticking around the system much longer Captain." said Carter.

"Roger. Our hangar bay is open and ready for your arrival. We'll jump to slipspace as soon as you're aboard" said Lash.

"Acknowledged. How long Six?"

"Ten seconds."

The Forerunner shield world Threnody went through its last death troughs. Secondary explosions riddled the outside shell, and large cracks were spreading all over the surface. Suddenly, the planet seemingly collapsed in on itself, as if the vacuum of space was destroying it from the inside. Then, for its final act, the shield world exploded outwards in a massive display of fire and heat.

It seemed to last for ages, but Six finally flew the Pelican through the selective barrier and flared out to a quick landing on the deck.

"We're aboard, go." commed Carter.

In front of the _Dusk_ appeared the characteristic purple-black of a slipspace portal, and with a surge from her engines, the UNSC Prowler shot into the void, leaving the system, and the deadly explosion, behind.

In the back of the Pelican, all was silent.

"John," said Halsey quietly, yet purposefully. "Do you have it?"

The Master Chief just reached into a compartment in his armor and withdrew the object Hasley had thrown him, a small, thin, orange tinted piece of metal.

He handed it to her, and Halsey looked at the two pieces in her hand. She put her head back against the wall of the Pelican and let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"Doctor Halsey," asked the Chief, "What exactly is that?"

Halsey blinked a few times, then looked right at the Chief's gold visor.

"This," she said, holding up the two pieces, "Is the Janus Key. It offers the real-time location of every piece of Forerunner technology in the galaxy."

Halsey let the magnitude of what she just said sink in.

"And now, the secrets of the universe are ours to unlock."

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	6. Chapter 6: Eternity

**Author's Note: So, here we go, the final chapter to Prelude to Eternity. Very important what happens here, this chapter will explain exactly how this story will tie into New Horizons**

**Enjoy**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but all original content is mine.**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Eternity**

**Bridge of the UNSC Prowler **_**Dusk**_**, Earth**

"Captain Lash, incoming transmission from Admiral Hood."

"Put him through." said Lash, quickly sorting out his uniform. The _Dusk_ had dropped out of slipspace not thirty seconds ago, after a series of randomized jumps away from the former shield world of Threnody. Besides him stood Commander Carter, still clad in his MJOLNIR Gen VII armor, minus the helmet, and Doctor Catherine Halsey.

The Doctor was holding a metal lock box, inside of which lay the very future of the human race, the Janus Key. When Lash had heard what the Key did, it was understandable that he was at a loss for words. He knew that it was imperative that Admiral Hood and the top Brass learned of this discovery as soon as possible.

The forward viewscreen flared to life, displaying the full image of Admiral Hood, clad in a simple battle dress uniform.

Lash and Carter snapped to attention and whipped off a salute, while Halsey remained still.

"Sir!"

Hood returned the salute, "At ease. You're back sooner than we expected. Did you find anything of value on your expedition?"

Lash took a sideways glance at the box in Halsey's hands. "Sir, as per ONI Directive: NEW BEGGININGS, I am requesting that any further communications of this topis be carried out in Top Secret conditions."

Hood's expression became more serious, and he nodded. He pressed a few keys offscreen and after a couple of seconds, said "We're secure Captain."

"Sir, the coordinates given to us took us to another Forerunner shield world."

"Another one?" asked Hood, "Like Requiem?"

"Yes and no. It was a different layout than Requiem, but that's not important. What is, however, is what Noble Team discovered after making landfall. Commander?" said Lash, looking at Carter.

"Yes sir. The entire outside of the planet was basically an outer shell, we had to get past it via a small opening to reach the planet proper. Once there, we discovered a singular structure from the air, and seeing as it was the only point of interest, we decided to investigate. The structure turned out to be an entrance to chamber that contained some sort of energy containment field. It was at that point when we were engaged by hostile Prometheans, and we lost contact with Doctor. Ma'am, maybe you would like to explain it from here?" said Carter.

Halsey cleared her throat. "Well, while my actions may have been viewed as reckless by the rest of Noble team, as soon as I saw the containment field I instinctively knew that something of great importance was contained within."

"So you chose to rush inside of it, oblivious to whether the field could have killed you or not, leaving the rest of us with no warning?" said Carter, a hint of annoyance evident in his voice.

"That would be correct. Once I entered the field it was... strange. It was almost as if I was in a dream. Then, much to my surprise and amazement appeared... the Librarian."

Hood's expression changed to one of shock. "_The_ Librarian? The wife of the Didact? She is still alive?"

"Honestly, I do not know if the Librarian I encountered was the real thing or not. It could have been a virtual representation or otherwise. Why, the entire scenario could have taken place in my head, I don't know. But what I _do_ know is that she gave me an object. A very important object called, the Janus Key." she held up the metal box. "The Librarian was adamant that the Key be kept safe. Once it was placed into my hands, I was deposited back into the real world, rather roughly I might add."

"After we recovered the Doctor, we eliminated the rest of the Prometheans and started our exfil. It was at this time when the planet itself began to suffer some sort of critical failure, and began to destroy itself. Our Pelican docked with the _Dusk_ and we jumped out-system before we felt any of the destructive effects. We have the full expedition recorded, ready for analysis if you'd like." finished Carter.

"We'll get that to the relevant departments as soon as possible. But what I want to know is if this Key is so important, what exactly does it do?" asked Hood curiously.

Lash checked the console one more time to make absolutely sure that the connection was secured. "Admiral, the Janus Key displays the real-time location of every piece of Forerunner technology in the galaxy."

Hood remained stoic in the face of such monumental news. "Every piece?" he muttered, "Captain, you were right to encrypt this channel, this could represent the most important discover humanity has ever made. How exactly does it do this?"

"The Key itself is made of two separate parts. When brought together they emit a holographic map showing the locations of the tech." said Hasley.

"This, this is something I need to see for myself. Captain, Commander, Doctor, board a Pelican and travel to my ship." ordered Hood. He then said, "Also, bring Master Chief and Cortana along. I feel like we could use her expertise. Hood out."

* * *

**Hangar Bay of the UNSC Valiant-class Super-Heavy Cruiser_ Light of Dawn_****, Earth**

As Carter, Halsey, Lash, and now the Master Chief descended from the ramp of the Pelican, Hood met them and said, "If you will all proceed to the conference room that has been prepared for us, I will be there momentarily."

The Admiral then motioned towards Carter. "Commander, a word please."

The Spartan approached the Admiral. "Sir?"

"Commander, as you may or may not be aware, we are commissioning a new _Infinity_-class vessel."

"I've heard. the _Eternity_, am I correct?"

"Yes. And along with it, two new companies of Spartan-IV's."

Carter just nodded his head. "I'm sorry sir, but why are you telling me this?"

"Carter, in your time as commanding officer of Noble team, you've proved yourself more than capable of leading both small and large teams of soldiers in accomplishing a variety of objectives. You're capable, highly skilled, and very qualified in almost all aspects of warfare."

Hood could see the subtle shifts in Carter's body language as he stood up straighter at the praise being offered him.

The Admiral continued, "I've talked with the rest of the Brass, and we've made our decision. We want you to be the commanding officer for the Spartan-IV's aboard the _Eternity_."

Carter blinked a couple of times and was silent for a few seconds, obviously thinking on what had just been offered to him. While it was true that he had led large numbers of troops on occasion, the thought of being permanently placed in command of four hundred men and women, Spartans no less "What about the rest of Noble?"

"They are being transferred into the two companies on board as well. You will still be their commander. Since they are all officers by now, you can either intersperse them to command positions, or you can keep them together as a squad and lead them like you always have. It's your decision. But I _do_ need to know who your XO would be."

"Noble Two." replied Carter instantly. "She's just as good a tactician as I am."

"Done." said Hood. "Now, let's hurry to the Conference Room, we wouldn't want to keep the good Doctor waiting now would we?"

He and Carter walked quickly to the conference room and entered through the door. Lash and the Master Chief were sitting, while Doctor Halsey was pacing back and forth, obviously annoyed that whatever Hood and Carter had to talk about was more important than the very future of humanity.

"Now, let's see what this Key actually does." said Hood.

"Yes, lets." replied Hasley curtly, reaching for the metal lock box. "Just a moment while the encryptions decode."

After a few seconds, some mechanism inside whirred, and the box popped open. Hasley opened the lid and reached inside, then slowly withdrew the contents.

For the first time, Hood saw the sleek, minimalistic appearance of the two Key segments, one colored electric blue, the other vivid orange. Hasley grasped each segment in each hand with a tender grace, the relative simplicity of the two objects bellying the importance they held.

Halsey looked to Hood, one eyebrow raised. The Admiral nodded, and Hasley brought the two pieces together. In a flood of light, blue holograms of planets and strange symbols filled the room.

Hood was in awe. Each sphere represented a piece of technology that could advance the human race by dozens, even hundreds of years. And there were so many of them.

On the conference table itself materialized the familiar figure of the AI Cortana. She looked up at the holograms, her mouth open and her eyes flitting back and forth, no doubt processing the enormous amount of information right in front of her. She 'walked' down the length of the table slowly, reaching out to touch holograms, the blue spheres softly glowing in response. Cortana got to the end of the table, then turned around so that she was facing Doctor Halsey.

"This is so... amazing," Cortana said, "but... there is a problem."

"Problem?" said Hood, "What kind of problem."

Cortana reached out and 'grabbed' one of the symbols that most likely represented the coordinates of a piece of Forerunner technology.

"These symbols, they are unlike anything I have ever seen. I've cross-referenced them with every known Human, Covenant, and Forerunner language, code, symbol, or otherwise, and there is not even a hint of a match. I've written and run thousands of different decryption programs, but nothing has yielded any results. It's almost as if there is an entire portion of information we need that is just... missing."

"So," Commander Carter began, "What you're telling me is that we need a key, to unlock the Key?"

Cortana just shrugged.

"Now I know how Jun feels..." muttered Carter.

"Hold on a second," said Doctor Hasley, with the kind of tone of someone who had just remembered something significant. "When the Librarian spoke to me, she told me to take the Janus Key to a place called the Absolute Record. Maybe this Absolute Record contains the information we need to decode the Janus Key."

"Do we know were the Absolute Record is located?" asked Hood.

Before the Admiral had even finished his sentence, Halsey had withdrawn a datapad and had began to type furiously away. The room was silent for full minute as Hasley worked away. Then, with a final, definitive tap, all of the holograms in the room winked out of existence.

All except for one. A line of symbols that pulsed a faint red. The holograms flashed brightly, then transformed into a line of letters and number.

"Coordinates." said Hood. "Is this the location of the Absolute Record?"

"There is only one way to find out." said Hasley.

"Cortana?"

"Analyzing... These coordinates are in deep space. No planetary bodies or natural phenomena."

Hood put a hand to his chin. "Is there any chance the Storm Covenant could have learned of this?"

"Highly unlikely. We detected no trace of them at the shield world of Threnody. At the miniscule chance that they had some sort of stealth ship in the area, they would not have known our purpose there, or our discover." said Lash.

"Still, it is better to be safe than sorry. I will assemble a task force from the Home Fleet and we will depart as soon we can. Dismissed."

* * *

**Bridge of the UNSC Valiant-class Super-Heavy Cruiser **_**Light of Dawn, **_**Deep Space**

The inky blackness of deep space, punctuated with the pinpricks of stars far distant, was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of eleven purple-black slipspace portals, crackling with interdeminsional energy.

Out of the portals emerged eleven ships, two Marathon cruisers, two Refit-Halcyons, six Paris frigates, two Gorgon destroyers, Captian Lash's Prowler, and of course, Hood's flagship the _Light of Dawn_.

The _Light of Dawn_ represented one of two Valiant-class Super-Heavy Cruisers left in the UNSC Fleet. Armed with three Heavy MAC's, twelve sets of dual heavy deck guns, hundreds of missile pods, meters of armor, along with countless point defense and countermeasure emplacements, the Valiant could more than hold its own against most any Covenant vessel during the Great War. Now, with the upgrades to the engines, reactors, sensor suite, and the addition of shields granted by Forerunner technology, it was second only to the _Infinity_ class vessels when it came to destructive power and survivability.

That being the case, the Valiant-class Cruisers were an extremely rare sight to see during the Great War due to their low number and strategic value, thus they were only utilized by the highest of officers and in the largest of battles. But now, with the UNSC manufacturing capability advancing by leaps and bounds, FLEETCOM had put forwards an initiative to began phasing out the older Marathon and Halcyon classes with Valiants. It was a slow start, but progress was happening.

Hands clasped behind his back, Admiral Hood stared out of the forward viewscreen at the object they had come to find.

"What am I looking at Cortana?" said Hood.

"It's definitely Forerunner. Spectral analysis of the hull reveals metal workings consistent with vessels found in the past. It's about as long as one of our frigates, three hundred meters exactly in fact, but... this is unlike any other vessel I've ever seen..." said the AI, tapping at a holoscreen full of sensor readings.

Hood knew what the AI was talking about. The Forerunner vessel had the length of a UNSC Frigate, but that was were the similarities ended. The ship had a striking resemblance to a pin, with a slight bulge in the rear, while the bow tapered off to a thin point. The whole ship was a gleaming silver, and it floated gracefully throughout the silent vacuum.

"Is this it?" asked Hood, "The Absolute Record?"

He looked to Doctor Hasley, who had been standing besides him. The Doctor was gazing at the strange ship just as he was.

"I do not know. This is the set of coordinates that I was able to decipher. Cortana? Are there any signals coming from the ship?" she said.

"One moment... We are receiving a transmission, but it's encrypted... there!" the AI paused for a second, seemingly puzzled. "It just says, 'Input Activation Code'."

"Activation code? Activation code for what?" asked Hood.

"For the ship I would presume." snarked Halsey.

Hood looked at her, annoyed. "I could figure that much _Doctor_, but once entered, what will this code accomplish?"

"Maybe if we in fact knew the code in the first place, we could find out." said Halsey. "Cortana?"

"I'm running a subroutine now... it seems that all known Human or Forerunner codes do not register with the system. Let me try something... this might take a minute."

And a minute it was. Hood and Halsey stood silently while Cortana worked, the rest of the bridge crew pretending to pay attention to their stations while waiting for something to happen.

"I got it!" exclaimed the AI. "The answer is a human genetic code! Slightly modified, but human nonetheless."

"A single, specific genetic code? Of who?" said Hasley.

"Yes. Cross-referencing the UNSC database now... Huh. I should have figured."

Halsey already knew. "John?"

Cortana just nodded. "The discrepancies in the code are consistent with the genetic modifications given to him by the Librarian on Requiem. It saved him from being composed on Ivanoff Research Station, maybe it allows him a better access of Forerunner technology as well..."

"Certainly something to think about." said Hasley. "Have you entered the code?"

"No I was waiting for Admiral Hood's order." replied Cortana.

Hood looked to his crew. "Are we at a safe distance?"

"Yes Admiral. We are at maximum sensor range and the slipspace capacitors are ready in case we need to bug out, same across the task force." replied a crew member.

Hood pressed some buttons on a console in front of him, opening a fleet-wide channel. "All ships, standby, we will be attempting to activate the Forerunner ship. Be ready to enter slipspace to the emergency rendezvous point in case things go south. Hood out."

The Admiral nodded at Cortana, and the AI put her hand to a holographic display, sending the code to the ship.

The anticipation in the bridge could have been cut with a knife, but thirty seconds soon passed, and nothing happened.

Hood turned to the sensor station. "Has anything changed?"

"No sir, we are still getting the same readings as we did when we arrived."

"Wait!" cried Hasley, "Look!"

At the tip of the pin-shaped ship, a crease suddenly appeared, running all the way back to the head. Slowly, and with the serene grace that was characteristic of the Forerunners, the bow of the ship peeled into eight pieces and started to open up like a flower. Once each of the tips reached a forty-five degree angle, they stopped, forming a cone-like shape.

"Sir, we're picking up some energy readings. The same kind associated with slipspace portals, but this is different than any readings I've ever seen..." said a bridge officer.

Indeed, at each of the points of the Forerunner ship, balls of purple-black energy began to form. The energy became more and more intense until with a mighty flash, they combined in the center. As the light dissipated, a portal had formed at the base of the cone, but this one was a pure, almost blinding white.

"This is not the Absolute Record then." Hood stated.

"No," said Hasley, "but perhaps it is the way to arrive there."

"Send a probe through, but keep the task force in position." ordered Hood.

There was a flash of exhaust on the stern of the _Light of Dawn_, and a slipspace probe shot out towards the portal. It took some time, but the probe eventually entered the portal and disappeared from light.

"Are we getting back readings?" asked Hood.

"Aye sir, we still have a connection. Getting back information now. The portal exits above some sort of ice planet, it doesn't match up with any of our databases though."

Cortana put a hand to her temple. "Hold on, what is that?"

"What is it Cortana?" asked Hood.

"The probe is picking up singles from... a UNSC beacon?"

"There must be some sort of error, it is obvious that we have never been to this location before." said Hasley, confused.

"The beacon recognizes our probe's transponder, its broadcasting an encrypted audio message." said Cortana.

"Play it." ordered Hood.

There was a rush of static, then something that shocked everyone on the bridge.

"_This is Admiral Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity..."_

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